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Work Programme providers and complaints
I find[ Sending the letters of complaint it is always necessary to send the complaints to both parties. My Cl’s experience is both parties WPP and DWP often use that old chestnut, ‘sorry we lost it’ so I email them, that way each hand knows what the other is doing, a rare event on a friday.
So, client’s appeal finally allowed and placed into the support group, which is good. Complaints to DWP bought about acknowledgement that they have messed client about, which is being followed up with letter to Director General.
However, client has now received letter from Work Programme provider stating that they want to keep her on their books until May 2015, which she is very unhappy about, given past treatment. However, on checking the Work Programme guidance (chapter 10), it states:
Early completers of the Work Programme
8. Early completion of the Work Programme can occur in these circumstances only:
• Final outcome payment has been claimed by Provider
• Participant is referred to Work Choice
• Participant becomes deceased
I can’t quite believe this is true, but I can’t find anything to the contrary. Anyone know of anything different about getting a client out of the clutches of a WP provider? All the info I have read about outcomes payments relates to job outcomes, so can’t see how that’s going to help.
I don’t think that it is a case of early completion of the work programme in those terms as none of those bullet points apply to her. I think it’s a case of her having no legal obligation to continue engaging with the work programme. I think, therefore, that in accordance with data protection principles (personal data should be held no longer than is necessary) she should write to them and request that they remove her personal information from their records. She might also want to see a solicitor who specialises in privacy law.
Tricky isn’t it? I might try putting supplementary complaint to DG in for now, making some of the points you suggest and see if that fixes it, otherwise we probably are trying to negotiate direct with them.
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I can’t quite believe this is true, but I can’t find anything to the contrary. Anyone know of anything different about getting a client out of the clutches of a WP provider? All the info I have read about outcomes payments relates to job outcomes, so can’t see how that’s going to help.
We’ve had a similar situation where the client was originally on JSA and in the WP, then ESA in support group. We contacted the WP provider who confirmed that once you’re in, you’re in for 2 years but being in the support group makes participating in anything voluntary. Both our main WP providers in this area have said they don’t get these changes passed on by JC+ so don’t know the claimant’s status has changed. You’d hope that if anyone in this situation was referred by the provder for a sanction it would be picked up by the DM that they are in the support group and therefore cannot be sanctioned. You’d hope….